


The Right In The Wrong

by MyTurnOnHigh



Series: Some Type of Ever After [3]
Category: Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Background Ben/Mal, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Not Beta Read, Their parents are the worst, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-15 14:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4609719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyTurnOnHigh/pseuds/MyTurnOnHigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Ben's coronation approaches, Carlos is quickly beginning to realize that accepting Jay's offer of love was a mistake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Million Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is probably going to be the last part in the Some Type of Ever After series. I'm going to be putting this one up in smaller chapters because I've been writing it more in sections than the last two pieces. The next part should be up later tonight and hopefully the rest will be up very shortly there after. Hope you enjoy! :)

“Mal, you’re going to break Ben’s love spell?” Carlos tensed as he heard Evie quietly talking to the other girl.

“I mean, yeah. It just feels like when our parents regain their power and are imprisoning everyone here...having Ben still in love with me seems a bit...excessive.” Mal’s voice was thick with emotion, but no one was about to say anything to her. Their main concern was what was going to go down during Ben’s upcoming coronation. They knew that stealing the wand was what they had to do. They were villains, it was in their blood. It was what their parents had taught them to be.

Mal had the right idea though. Being in love once all the villains- their parents- had their power back seemed pointless. Their love and happiness couldn’t change how their parents felt and they’d only be seen as weak and unworthy.

Carlos could feel his jaw clenching as he thought about all of this and he turned to look over at Jay. The thief was laying on his back on top of one of the beds in their dorm, clearly lost in his own thought. It had only been a little over a day that the older teen had eaten one of the enchanted cookies himself and having Jay be all his had been nice. That one day of loving touches and caresses as they spent all their free time together was sure to be burned in the younger teen’s memory forever.

Jay had even been there for Carlos when he stood up to his mother during the video chat Fairy Godmother had set up. However, remembering that conversation from earlier with her made the boy shudder. He had never stood up to Cruella like that before and feeling Jay’s hand tightly griping his shoulder in support had given him the strength he needed to keep going. But now, knowing his mother was going to be free soon, Carlos realized how talking back had been a grave mistake.

Because they weren’t all going to be living in Auradon for forever and their parents would force them to pay for the mistakes they had made during their time at the school. The only reason their parents had allowed them to come here in the first place was so they could do their bidding for them. Not so they could learn to be independent.

Independence would be something they would never have. Independence gave them the idea that they had free will and free will was something their parents had always punished them for. As the children of villains they were destined to be pawns and low ranking sidekicks for the rest of their lives. So the strength Jay had given him to assert himself and tell his mother how he really felt was probably something Cruella would use as an excuse to torment him with for the rest of his life.

He had been so lost in these thoughts that Carlos hadn’t even noticed the two girls getting up to leave or Jay letting them out. It was only the sound of the heavy wooden door closing that snapped the younger teen back to reality. He looked over and saw Jay standing at the entry way, his hands on his hips as he stared down at the floor blankly. They stood in silence for a few moments before Jay finally turned around and walked over to the younger teen.

“I know what you’re thinking and stop.”

Carlos frowned and stared at Jay sadly for a moment before glancing away. “She has a point–”

“We’ve got this. Okay? I’ll have your back no matter what happens. I’m still not giving up on making you happy.” Jay said as he reached up and placed his hands on Carlos’s shoulders reassuringly. The thief then leaned in and lightly kissed the younger boy. “Now come on. Let’s get to bed.”

As Jay moved away from him, Carlos watched as the older teen wordlessly stripped down to his boxers and turned off the lights before climbing into bed. If the entire evening hadn’t happened before this, the scene would have caused his stomach to flutter with butterflies. But now it was just making the offended organ flip-flop in a nauseating manner.

No, the more he thought about it, the younger boy realized that Mal did indeed have the right idea. Even though she was saying she was doing it for Ben’s sake, Carlos now understood she was doing it for herself too. Because love is a hopeless and helpless feeling. It made you happy when you shouldn’t be. It gave you strength when you shouldn’t have it while at the same time making you weak and unprepared. And, worst of all, love still had the ability to hurt you. Especially when you knew you didn’t deserve it and knew it wouldn’t be able to last no matter how hard you tried.

With a heavy heart, Carlos sighed before stripping down to his own undershirt and boxers and climbing into his bed.

“Night, babe.” The younger teen heard Jay mutter into the darkness of their room and he frowned.

“Night, Jay.”


	2. Let Your Heart Keep Listening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised here's part 2 of this story! Hopefully I'll be able to write more tonight and have the next part up tomorrow or soon after. :)

After all the dark thoughts had consumed him, it hadn’t taken Carlos long to figure out he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. The teen had no idea how long he had lied there awake, but he was aware that Jay was already fast asleep – the sound of his heavy, even breathing filled the dorm room along with the sound of Dude’s quiet snores.

With a sigh, the black and blond boy got up out of his bed and decided to break curfew by going down to the kitchen where he knew Mal had to still be. Baking had never been the girl’s forte and when they had made the cookies before Evie had helped the other girl out a lot. However, because of the situation, Carlos was sure the girl had gone down to the kitchen alone this time.

When he reached the dimly lit room, Carlos peered into the small porthole window that led into it and noticed that he was indeed correct. He could see Mal standing at the metal table quietly siring ingredients together in a mixing bowl and, even from where he was, the younger teen noticed how troubled she looked.

For a moment, Carlos thought he should leave. He didn’t want Mal to be mad at him on top of everything else, but right now it felt like she’d be the only person that would understand how he was feeling. So he slowly opened the door to the kitchen up and walked into the room a bit.

Mal jumped as she heard him enter the room, however instead of instantly throwing on a cold mask like she had been known to do in the past, Carlos was surprised to see she continued to looked upset.

“Hey.” She said to him quietly before looking back down at the mixing bowl and began stirring it again. The younger boy hesitated for a moment before going to stand across from her. He stood there awkwardly for a moment before leaning forward and resting his elbows against the cool metal table. As he leaned down he ended up looking into the mixing bowl.

Carlos couldn’t help but laugh dryly when he realized all the ingredients had turned into a deep, murky black color. Sure, it probably tasted like chocolate, but there was still something rather ironic about the color and what the spell was meant to do.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier.” Carlos mumbled. At first he wondered if Mal had even heard him, but she soon let out a heavy sigh and paused her stirring.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” The younger teen bit his lip momentarily. “Have you ever wondered what our parents would be like if they had found happiness?”

The purple haired girl tenses before looking back over at Carlos in confusion.

“Being...evil is what makes them happy–”

“I know, but when they were younger, do you think they had the same problems we’re having now?”

Mal continued to make faces at Carlos before moving her hands to rest on the metal counter top. Maybe Carlos had overstepped. Their parents were sensitive subjects for all of them and it was a topic no one ever really brought up.

However, just as he was about to tell Mal to forget what he said, she looked back at him. Her gaze was warm and soft. A look he had never once seen her have before. She then let her arms relax before reaching out and gently placing her hand on top of his.

“Well, no one is born evil. I think we’re proof of that.” Her voice was shaky and she laughed lightly. “So there had to be something that happened to them a long time ago that changed them.”

Carlos looked down at where Mal’s hand was grasping his own when he felt her tightening her hold on him.

“Do you think it was love?” The pressure on his hand grew again before the girl quickly pulled away from him. He then looked back up at the older girl and watched as her chest heaved heavily. Carlos knew he was tempting fate by crossing that line. Love was a sensitive subject for both of them right now, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He had to know what Mal thought.

“One time...I asked about my dad.” The girl’s voice was barely above a whisper and Carlos leaned in a bit more to hear her better. “And my mom went off. She was saying things about how unworthy he had been of her and how much of a mortal fool he was while she threw things around the house.”

After Mal finished talking Carlos could hardly believe what she had just told him. That hadn’t been what he expected to hear from her. But, hearing her tell that story that made him realize how open and raw the girl must be feeling. She was relying on him understanding right now just as much as he was relying on her.  “My mom’s the same way about my father. I only asked about him once and I got the same reaction.”

Mal looked back at him sympathetically and smiled lightly. “Then maybe it was one of the things that made them that much more evil.”

Carlos let his shoulders go slack before he pushed off from the table and crossed his arms around his chest. “The last thing I want to become is my mother.”

“Jay can’t hurt you when he’s under the love spell. You don’t have to worry about that being the reason–”

“Ben’s the same way though. He’d still be on your side, so then why are you doing this?” Mal’s look hardened as Carlos spoke and she stood up a bit straighter before looking back down at her mother’s spell book.

“Carlos, you’re trying to get to a point, I know you are, so just say it.”

The younger teen glanced away and ruffled his hair roughly with his hand before looking back at Mal. “Jay keeps saying that he did this for me and that he’s not going to give up on making me happy even once our parents get their power back.”

“Then let him. He put the spell on himself for a reason.”  

“That’s the problem though. You know that if any of our parents saw us even remotely happy they’d do everything they possibly could to take it away from us.” Carlos could feel the lump forming in the back of his throat as he spoke, but he ignored it the best he could. He needed to say this before he couldn’t anymore. “I know that if I keep listening to Jay, he’ll actually start making me believe we can do this and that I can be happy, but the minute my mom sees him giving me that hope she’ll find a way to take it away from me. And if she did something to Jay...I know I’d turn into her, just with a hatred of people and not animals.”

Once he finished rambling he noticed Mal was staring at him quietly. She was frowning in worry and her eyes were shining slightly. Clearly the girl understood where Carlos was coming from and why he was so distraught. She walked around the side of the table to stand on the same side the younger teen was on and gently grabbed both of his hands.

“Okay. Then we’ll prevent that from happening. You’re not going to turn into your mother, I promise, but are you sure breaking Jay’s love spell is what you really want to do?”

Carlos clutched Mal’s hands with his own as the feeling of a hot tear streaking down his cheek caused him to sniffle lightly. “No. But I can’t keep holding on to the hope that everything is going to work out perfectly. Not when I know our parents are going to make the world bleak and miserable for everyone but themselves.”

The older girl looked at him sadly before reaching up and gently wiping her finger along Carlos’s cheek. She then turned back to the bowl and flicked her hand over top the mixing bowl. “Then we’ll make sure this works for you. I’ll just make a new one for me.” Mal then looked back at Carlos with a forced smile. “Why don’t you head back to your dorm before Jay realizes your gone and comes looking for you. I don’t want him trying to convince you to not do this. I’ll make sure I bring you one of these tomorrow before the coronation.”

Carlos glanced away from the girl for a moment and nodded. He felt her gently rub his shoulder before he started to turn to head out of the kitchen. “Thanks, Mal.” He said quietly before reaching for the door.

“And Carlos?” The younger teen turned back around to look at the girl, furrowing his brow slightly in confusion.

“Yeah?”

“Make sure your heart keeps listening to your head.” Mal said before her lips formed a tight lip smile. “It’s for the best.”

Carlos nodded again before finally walking out of the kitchen and making his way back towards his and Jay’s dorm.


	3. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it took me longer to get this chapter out than I said it would! Ran into a few snags here and there, but I got it done. Hope you enjoy it. :)

The next morning Carlos was woken up by the covers being roughly pulled off of him. As he sat up quickly, still in a sleep filled daze, he saw Jay by the foot of his bed. The other boy had a blank expression on his face as he held a small plate in his hand.

For a moment, Carlos was confused. Jay had woken him up from a dream where the two of them were back on the isle. For some reason the two of them had both been trapped in the confines of Cruella’s fur closet and Jay had been holding him while the sounds of pained, whimpering, yelps and barks could be heard through the closet door.

However, the images of the dream faded and Carlos sat up in his bed, making sure he moved closer to Dude as he did so, before pulling the small dog halfway into his lap.

“Morning.” Jay’s voice was strained. Hearing how tense the older teen was caused Carlos to look back him in confusion and that was when he saw what exactly was on the plate he had caught a glimpse of before – a small piece of cake; the same pitch black color as the batter from last night.

As everything from the night prior came flooding back for the younger teen, he moved Dude back so that he could kneel on his bed and leaned forward to get closer to Jay. He was desperately trying to think of something to say, but his brain was too foggy to think of anything worthwhile. So instead he decided to ask the obvious. “Why do you have that?”

Jay raised an eyebrow and looked down at the cake in his hand before going over to roughly place it on Carlos’s nightstand. There was a moment of silence between the two of them before the thief decided to go take a seat at the foot of the younger teen’s bed and turned half way to face him.

It was then Carlos realized Jay was still shirtless and his eyes trailed down the other teen’s chest. He was too young to really be considered buff or muscular, but Jay was well on his way to getting there. There was a slight definition to abdominal muscles that showed how much he worked out and you could easily tell that he could probably lift Carlos’s weight and then some.

The light tension that had formed in the air was broken slightly as Jay laughed lightly under his breath. Carlos could feel his cheeks turning red in realization that he had been caught staring at his friend-slash-boyfriend-slash-whatever they were right now. He then averted his gaze away from the older teen’s chest and moved his legs to sit cross-legged on top of the covers.

“This sucks.” He heard Jay mutter almost bitterly. “I can’t even stay mad at you for what you did when you look like you’re getting flustered.”

Carlos frowned and hesitantly looked back at Jay, this time making sure his eyes didn’t wander further down the thief’s chest. “Mal told you?”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly hard to figure out when I opened the door this morning and she was holding cake. I mean, Mal’s great and all, but she’s not really the ‘good morning, here’s a home baked treat for breakfast’ type.”

The younger teen laughed quietly under his breath. It really came out as more of a huff, but it didn’t matter. He thought he could trust Mal. After everything the two of them had talked about the previous night, it had felt like they had reached a new level of friendship, but it looked like he was wrong.

Carlos heard the springs in the mattress squeak ever so slightly as the weight on the bed shifted. Jay was moving so that he could sit in front of him in the same cross-legged position he was in and began staring the younger teen down for a moment.

“I thought I’d have more time to think of something to say to you.” Carlos said with a slight sharpness to his voice. When Jay narrowed his eyes briefly in confusion he regretted how what he had said sounded, but he couldn’t get passed Mal giving Jay something that felt so personal. He was trying to keep Jay from getting angrier and more upset than need be, but, now that Mal had thrown a wrench into that, there was probably nothing Carlos could do to prevent this from a ten on the ‘this is ending badly’ scale.

“More time? Dude, do you even realize what time it _is_?” Jay was staring at him in bewilderment and, as what the older teen said sank in, Carlos turned to look at the clock on his nightstand. The red lights glowing back were telling him it was already almost one and Ben’s coronation was happening in less than two hours. The younger teen whipped his head back to look at the thief in shock.

“Dude!” Was the only thing Carlos could think to say before jumping up and hurrying over to the wardrobe in the room. Clearly Jay had let him sleep in to avoid the conversation he had known was coming thanks to their friend.

“What? It’s not like we take a million hours to get ready like the girls do. Even your hair takes less time than when Evie does her casual makeup. And something tells me today is not a casual makeup day.”

Carlos took a deep breath before turning back around to glare lightly at Jay. “That’s not the point.” He said tensely while angrily clutching one of his shirts he had been thinking of wearing.

After a moment, the thief got up from the edge of the bed and walked the short distance from the bed over to Carlos before crossing his arms and staring down at the younger teen.

“Go look at the plate, Carlos.” Jay said quietly and the younger teen felt the abusive grip he had on his shirt loosen as he dropped it to the floor before hurrying back over to the side of his bed. He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting on his way over to the nightstand table, but it certainly wasn’t what he saw. As he peered down at the piece of cake he could clearly see that there was a large hunk missing from one of the corners. It almost looked like someone had taken a bite out of it.

Carlos continued to stare down at the piece of cake as he tried to figure out what was going on. However, when he heard the floorboards behind him creaking a bit, he turned back around to see Jay had moved closer to him again.

“It was what you wanted me to do, right?” The thief muttered with another blank expression much like the one he had earlier as he woke Carlos up.

The younger teen gaped momentarily before turning to look back and forth between the plate and Jay a few times in confusion. Jay had eaten the cake willingly? Why? Had Mal tricked him for Carlos to save him from having to explain how he felt? Or had Jay known what he was doing from the moment the girl handed him the plate?

“I’m sorry.” Carlos wasn’t quite sure why he said that. The words had left his mouth before he even realized it, but once it sunk in what he had said, the younger teen felt like it had been the right response for some reason.

Jay raised an eyebrow and frowned before glancing away momentarily. He then looked back at Carlos and smiled brightly.

“Yeah, I am too.” The thief shrugged before going over to Carlos and ruffling his hair like he always had. “I’m sorry I wasn’t want you wanted me to be.”

Jay’s voice was oddly cheery in a way that sounded forced. It made the younger teen tense up against the thief’s touch and he moved so he could get a better look at Jay. Clearly the tone of his voice wasn’t the only thing he was forcing. The smile on his face was clearly mocking the younger teen and there was a glint in Jay’s eyes. It wasn’t something Carlos had ever seen before and he had no idea what it was or what it meant.

“No, Jay, you don’t–”

“I’m going to go grab a shower while you figure out what you’re wearing, alright? I don’t want you to worry anymore about being late.” Jay said as he pushed himself away from Carlos in a way that was meant to seem playful, but it caused the younger teen to stumble slightly.

After Carlos caught himself, he just stood there. Too shocked to say anything to the older teen and too confused to really move. Instead he just watched as Jay grabbed a towel that he had clearly previously laid out on his bed earlier and left their dorm room to head for the showers.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh! I'm so sorry it took so long to get this done, but between school starting and writer's block hitting me hard I just couldn't get into this chapter. I also decided to add one more chapter because this one was getting a bit long. The next update won't take as long though, I'm already more than halfway done with it so should be up in a day or two! Hope you still enjoy! :)

They weren’t talking. It had been two weeks since Ben’s coronation and Carlos couldn’t even remember the last time he told Jay ‘good morning’. Let alone the last time the thief had said it to him.

And, for a while, during the night of the coronation, Carlos had thought that maybe they were going look past everything that happened. The two of them had been happy during the fireworks that were set off to celebrate the now King Ben (as well as the defeat of Maleficent). Probably because they were riding the high that came with knowing they could now choose their own paths in life and weren’t being forced to become Evil.

However, as soon as the two of them returned to their dorm it was like a switch went off. The younger teen could vaguely remember Jay mumbling something to him about getting some sleeping that night, but now he was beginning to believe even that was just a figment of his imagination.

It was like Jay was making it a point to never be in the dorm anymore when Carlos was. The boy would wake up and he’d be alone in the room. He’d come back after classes and Jay’s tourney equipment would be gone meaning he was at practice. Even at night when Carlos when to bed the thief was oftentimes gone until curfew.

He had seen Jay in the hallway once. The thief had been leaning against a row of lockers, a sly smirk gracing his lips. Carlos tried to forget that Jay had been staring down at Audrey during that moment. He just wanted to focus in the fact that the older teen looked like he was happy. Because that was all he wanted now – for Jay to be happy and free.

Had he really been scared of what was going to happen if he didn’t break the spell and they ended back up on the Isle? Sure. That was the main reason he asked Mal to help him break the spell. But now that he knew he had the power to be good, the thought of having Jay under a love spell just so Carlos could have what he wanted made his stomach churn.

The older teen deserved to know for certain what he wanted. Defeating Maleficent had given them all the freedom to make their own choices. And Jay couldn’t have that same independence if he was being forced to feel a certain way. They lived like that long enough back on the isle. It wouldn’t be right to continue living like that not that they didn’t have to.

Carlos continued to remind himself of this as he once again sat alone in their dorm room, working on homework. It wasn’t anything hard, just an extra credit sheet for advanced chemistry. The teen wanted it to last until he had to go get dinner though. Because, even though he knew he made the right choice, knowing Jay was avoiding him still hurt like hell.

The boy didn’t get to work very long on the equations, though. As soon as he had figured out the atomic mass of one of the elements there was a light knock on the dorm door. The teen didn’t think much of it as he got up to open the door, figuring it was probably either Mal or Evie coming by to check on him or wanting to know if he would rather do homework in their dorm with them. However, once he got the door open, his brow furrowed in confusion when he saw Ben standing there with that shy, but polite smile on his face that he always seemed to have.

“Carlos, hey.” There was a funny tone in the king’s voice that made Carlos’s brow furrow even more.

“Um, hey, Ben. What’s up?” The younger teen asked as he opened the door up a bit more.

Ben’s smile turned more nervous and he reached up to rub the back of his neck. “So, I need to apologize, I know you and Jay aren’t on...the best terms right now, but I was wondering if maybe you could come say something to him?”

Carlos tensed and felt his mouth go dry. He didn’t care that Ben knew what happened between him and Jay. It was obvious and they were all friends. But if the young king thought he had the power to fix the two boys friendship, he was sorely mistaken.

“I don’t think I should. If you want someone to talk to Jay, you should probably go find Audrey.”

Ben’s face scrunched up a bit at the mention of his ex-girlfriend’s name, but he shook it off quickly. “No, it’s...I don’t think it’s something Audrey would be good with.”

“I mean, she might not be the most eloquent conversationalist, but-”

“ _Carlos,_ ” Ben interjected quietly and leaned in a bit, “Jay’s been down on the tourney field for three hours now. Practice ended two hours ago and he’s been using the pitching machine to just his balls back.”

The younger teen noted how the king’s brow was furrowed in worry. It made his Carlos grip the door handle tighter. Why would Jay be doing something like that? It didn’t make any sense. Especially if practice was over with. He always thought Jay just went off with some girl after practice.

He shook his head as he tried to figure out something to tell Ben, but the younger teen didn’t know where to start.

“Mal told me the details of what happened.” The young king spoke in a tone that seemed to reflect genuine concern. “I’m sorry.”

Even though they hadn’t been friends for very long Carlos knew that Ben cared deeply about all of them. He had from the very moment they stepped out of the limo. It was probably because of how his parents had raised him. The younger teen didn’t really know much about Belle and Adam’s story, but from what he had gathered in his Intro to Auradon History class, Belle had once seen as an outcast and Ben probably knew more of the story than even the history books did.

It was probably why the young king had a soft spot for all other outcasts now. There was never any pity though, and Carlos was thankful for that. Pity was the last thing he needed. Right now he just needed real friends. One like Jay used to be.

“If you know what happened why do you think I’ll be any help?”

Ben smiled lightly and shrugged. “I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit.”

Carlos looked at Ben in confusion as he leaned more against the dorm threshold. “What do you mean?”

“You two have been friends for years and I’m sure you understand each other better than anyone.”

“So? That doesn’t change what happened or what I did.”

“No, I guess not, but how do you know it can’t be fixed if you don’t try? And...I think Jay needs you to try. I think he needs you.” Carlos tensed as he heard Ben say Jay needed him. There was no way the thief needed him. Carlos had always been the one that needed him. Jay protected him and always made him feel safe.

It never helped calm his fears though. No matter how safe Jay made him feel, Cruella had always been watching from the shadows. Even here having the thief hadn’t been enough to block out the presence of his mother.

Ben was right though, Jay did know him better than anyone else. Meaning the thief probably knew why Carlos had been so scared and, as he realized that, he also realized that that was what hurt Jay the most in all of this. The younger teen hadn’t trusted their friendship enough – hadn’t trusted Jay enough – to keep him safe. And Ben was also right about how he owed it to Jay to try. Because, even though Jay had been avoiding him, he hadn’t exactly been trying to fix things either.

With a sigh, Carlos leaned his head against the doorframe and glanced down at the carpeted floor of the hallway. Ben’s hand came to rest on his shoulder in a reassuring manner.

“You said he was on the tourney field?” Carlos muttered before he slowly looked back up at the young king. Ben smiled lightly at him before nodding and, without hesitating, the younger teen walked out of his dorm room and closed the door behind him.

“Good luck.” He heard Ben say as he began to leave.

Turning his head back briefly, Carlos nodded at the older teen and quickly said thanks before hurrying back down the hall.


	5. Ever After, After All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is, the last chapter! Thank you to everyone that waited patiently while I struggled with completing this. I hope it lives up to what everyone was wanting/expecting. Enjoy! :)

Once Carlos made his way outside he could see Jay off in the distance on the tourney field. He paused to watch the older teen for a few moments. He was standing in the far left goalie net. His stance was tense, but his movement was fluid and quick as he dove for the balls being thrown out by the pitching machine.

It was clear to Carlos that Jay wasn’t really practicing. With how he was standing and the ferocity he was hitting the balls at, the younger teen knew he was just letting off steam. It was no wonder Ben had been concerned enough to come to him for help.

Carlos started heading down towards the tourney field again, picking up his pace a bit as he got closer to the other teen. Once he was standing at the side of the goal net he watched Jay angrily hit a few more balls back a couple more times before deciding to try and get the older teen’s attention.

“Last time I checked you weren’t a goalie!” Carlos said loudly so Jay could hear him over the loud hum of the pitching machine. The other teen quickly looked over in confusion for a moment before the pitching machine made another whirl, sending out another ball in his direction. After successfully dodging the oncoming fastball, Jay tossed his stick to the side and hurried over to the machine to turn it off.

Carlos continued to stand to the side of the practice goal and crossed his arms. He looked down at the ground, trying to think of what he was going to say next, but nothing came to him and, before he realized it, he heard the sound of grass being crunched under Jay’s feet as he hurried back over to him.

“What’re you doing down here?” Carlos heard Jay say through his out of breath panting and he looked back over at the other teen. He had taken his helmet off and was squinting against the sun as sweat dripped down his face.

“Ben said I should talk to you. He was worried and rightfully so if you’ve forgotten your tourney role. That is, unless you’re trying to go rogue and steal goalie position.” The younger teen forced a smile and tried to sound as joking as he possibly could. However Jay looked far from amused and crossed his arms as he began to stare Carlos down.  

“Always be ready for a stray ball. Something you would know if you hadn’t quit the team.” The thief’s voice was as tense as his stance had been earlier. It sent a chill down the other teen’s spine.

“Jay-”

“If Ben thinks I should head in I will. He could have told me that himself though, so why’d he send you?”

Carlos stared at Jay for a moment before glancing away from the older teen’s hard stare. “Probably because this is my fault.”

There was a pause between the two of them before Carlos heard Jay let out a sarcastic laugh. “Don’t be so full of yourself, C. The world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Hearing the thief say that caught the younger teen off guard. He wasn’t sure if it had been Jay’s bored tone of voice or the words themselves, but it hadn’t been something he expected.

“I-I know that.” Carlos stammered out, unsure of what he should say to the older teen.

“Look. I’ll stop, so you can go tell Ben to not worry.” Jay turned and the younger teen watched as he began to head back towards the machine and scattered balls that had been thrown out for him so he could go clear the field of everything.

However, instead of leaving like Jay probably wanted him to, Carlos hurried back over to the older teen and grabbed his shoulder.

“You were my best friend!” His voice broke angrily as he watched Jay tense before he slowly turned his head back slightly in Carlos’s direction. Even though the smaller teen couldn’t see the thief’s face directly, he could make out his faint brow creases in frustration and more defined jaw line that happened when he clenched his teeth together.

Jay remained silent though. Carlos wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted him to shut up or if he was waiting for him to say something else, so he let go of the older teen’s arm and decided to try pushing Jay harder for a response. He just wanted him to say something, anything. “You never even let me explain why I went to Mal.”

That had caught Jay’s attention and the other teen turned to look Carlos head on and glared at him. “What is there for you to explain? You didn’t want to give me a chance. I get it.”

“No! You don’t get it!” The amount of frustration in his own voice was surprising to Carlos. “I know you think I didn’t trust you, but that’s not true.” In the end, the younger teen’s voice cracked slightly, but he continued to stare Jay down.

The thief’s glare softened and he crossed his arms as he leaned down a bit. He was less than a foot away from Carlos’s face now and he could almost feel the heat radiating off the older teen’s body.

“That’s not what I think.” Jay said quietly. “I think you panicked and instead of talking to me about it, you went off and did the exact thing I asked you not to do.”

“What? No, I-”

“Carlos.” The thief stepped back and shrugged. “I don’t care why you did it, so just drop it.”

Jay started to walk away again but Carlos knew he couldn’t leave everything like this or everything would be worse than before.

“Why are you so angry? You’re not in love with me anymore, so this shouldn’t even matter.” Jay paused again and the younger teen watched as he hit his hand against his side in thought for a moment before turning back around and roughly starting to take his tourney gloves off.

“I’m angry,” Jay said as he threw his gloves onto the ground, “because, you’re only thinking about yourself. You didn’t care that I loved you.”

Carlos gaped and looked over at the discarded gloves in confusion. “You’re _wrong_.” He hated how his voice cracked again, but he couldn’t hold it back. Jay was starting to go for lower blows, but he couldn’t back down. Not now.

However, his mind went blank as he felt Jay roughly grab his hips to pull him closer. The younger teen yelped in surprise and he quickly moved his hands up onto the taller teen’s shoulders to support himself against the sudden movement and hold himself back. However, the padding Jay was wearing kept the younger teen from getting a good grip and he was forced against the thief’s chest. The scent of sweat and grass mixed in with Jay’s usual smell of amber and musk that came from his soap flooded the younger teen’s sense of smell. 

Carlos looked down at the older’s chest, desperately trying to avoid eye contact as he tried to figure out what was going on. He could feel Jay’s chest rapidly moving against his own as they both breathed erratically.

“Jay...Jay, let me go...!” Even though he wasn’t really struggling, Carlos did try to take a step back to put some distance between the two of them. However, Jay moved with him, preventing the younger teen from moving away and, after a few moments, the smaller teen finally gave up and allowed his hands to rest gently against Jay’s chest.

Then he realized the older teen was starting to lean until their foreheads were nearly touching. It made Carlos whimper quietly under his breath. Instead of closing the distance between them though, Jay moved his head slightly so that they were cheek to cheek.

“But the worst part about all of this is that I still _want_ you.” Jay’s voice was quiet, but clouded with confusion and frustration and Carlos could feel every word hit against his ear like they were taunting him. In retaliation, the younger teen pressed his cheek back against the thief’s and balled his jersey up in his hands.

“ _Why_?” Carlos could barely get the word out. Jay laughed dryly after the younger teen managed to croak out his simple question and started to move his head almost as if he was nuzzling against the younger’s neck.

“I just do.” There had been a hitch in the thief’s voice. It made Carlos wish he could melt away. This was only supposed to be painful for him. He could live with that. He had for years with Cruella. But he couldn’t live with hurting Jay.

“I’m sorry.” He sounded pathetic. Probably because a simple apology _was_ pathetic. It did nothing to help Jay and Carlos knew that, but he didn’t know what else he could say, or even if he could say anything to make this better.

Carlos felt Jay let out a scoffing huff and shake his head before letting him go and pushing back, but the younger teen still refused to look at the thief’s face. Instead he stared down at the eight marking the corner of Jay’s jersey.

“Yeah, I am too.” He heard Jay mutter bitterly as he started to back away more.

As a cool breeze rolled through, Carlos realized he wouldn’t have even felt the chill if Jay had still been standing close to him. He felt like the other teen had just exposed him to an open but empty world. One that had so much potential, but still lacked the love and affection they were both now so desperately craving.

“I could...I could ask Mal if we can try breaking the spell again-”

“It’s not the _spell_ , Carlos.” Jay cut in bitterly. “Do you remember when I told you I didn’t want to break the stupid thing because it wouldn’t be fair to you...because you couldn’t just erase your feelings?” The younger teen didn’t say anything, only nodded. He remembered Jay saying that to him, but he was lost as to why the other teen was bringing it up now.

“Okay, well,” Carlos watched as Jay shrugged and glanced away from him, clearly trying to gather his thoughts, “I can’t get rid of _remembering_ what they felt like. I wish I could, but I don’t know how.”

The younger teen slowly looked up at Jay, flinching slightly when he saw how pained the older teen looked. This wasn’t fair. They finally had the chance to be exactly who they wanted to be, but Carlos had somehow managed to ruin everything for Jay. But that wasn’t fair to him either since Jay had willingly put himself under the love spell to begin with. That hadn’t been Carlos’s fault.

“I didn’t ask you to do this for me.”

“I know. I know you didn’t. I’m not blaming you for this, but it just hurts and...that pisses me off.” Jay turned his head to run his hand through his sweat soaked hair and Carlos looked on. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to make things better.

He did know that magic wasn’t the answer though. Magic had never done them any good. It was the whole reason they were like this to begin with. So that left them with talking. It was all they had left, but the young teen was lost for words. He knew Jay didn’t want to hear why he had gone to Mal, but explaining himself felt like it might be a good place for him to start.

Carlos crossed his arms and took a step closer to Jay again. He then leaned forward and turned his head slightly in an attempt to get the older teen to look at him again. As he caught Jay’s attention he looked at the older sympathetically and frowned.

“I thought we were going back to the isle and...if that had happened,” Carlos trailed off for a moment and glanced away as he tried to think of the right words to say, “if that had happened you know my mother wouldn’t have let me be happy and I didn’t want her to _do_ something to you. I didn’t want to lose you like that–”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can. And you were right. I panicked. But...I was scared because I realized that...if she did something to you, there’d be no coming back from it for me and...and then I’d become _exactly_ like her and...” Carlos trailed off when he felt his throat starting to close off. He tried to push down the lump in throat, but it refused to go away.

“What? C, there’s no way you would–”

“No, Jay, if I lost you because of my mother,” the younger teen choked out quietly as his voice cracked, “I don’t think I could stand seeing anyone else happy ever again.”

Carlos felt Jay’s hands come to gently rest on either side of his neck. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to ignore the warm feeling the other’s touch caused within him, before forcing himself to look back at the thief again. Jay was staring back at him quietly. He looked so serious. It wasn’t an expression the younger teen was used to seeing from him and he didn’t know if it was making him feel better or worse.

“You are never going to become your mother. You don’t have the heart for it. Even if something happened and you hated seeing everyone around you being happy...you care too much about other people to watch them suffer, let alone make them suffer.”

A hot tear began to streak its way down Carlos’s cheek, but Jay moved his thumb over to gently wipe it away. The younger teen took a shaky breath after that and averted his gaze.

“I let you do this to yourself. I had no problem with that–”

“I did what I did because I wanted to. You know that. Besides, I didn’t really give you the chance to tell me not to do it.”

“Still.”

Jay sighed and Carlos felt him slide his hands down to his shoulders. The light touch sent a shiver down the younger teen’s spine and he resisted the urge to close the distance between him and the thief.

“But we’re not going back. And, yeah, our parents may have a way off the island now, but we’re safe here. We’re safe together. Look at how we took care of Mal’s mom. Cruella wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Carlos let out a dry laugh and shook his head. “I know that _now_. But before–”

“Yeah. I know.” Jay cut in and glanced down. A silence stretched between the two of them for a few moments. Tension began to creep back between them and Carlos wasn’t sure what to do about it. They had already talked about the important things, but there was still the metaphorical elephant with them on the tourney field that the younger teen didn’t know how to bring up. It was always easier to talk around emotions and about the aftermath they caused rather than the emotions themselves.

Carlos felt Jay rub his arms gently. It made him relax and the younger teen felt himself lean in a bit more. He knew that if his arms weren’t still crossed, their chests would probably be touching by now again.

“C?” Jay said just above a whisper, but it still caught the younger teen’s attention and he looked back at the thief.

“What?” Carlos felt a gentle tug on his arms again, only this time, instead of their cheeks touching, he felt the warmth of the older teen’s lips against his own. It was a gently and soft kiss at first, but it quickly turned into more as Jay deepened it.

The young teen wanted the kiss to last forever. He uncrossed his arms and wrapped them around the larger teen’s back so he could keep him close. The fabric of Jay’s jersey felt too slick against his hands, so he clutched tightly onto the fabric, balling it up in his fists. It was then he realized he could taste Jay’s tongue against his own and he whimpered lightly into the kiss.

The thief began to break away, however he continued to lightly kiss the younger teen a few times in a reassuring manner before placing their foreheads together.

“Do you still want me?” Jay muttered and Carlos could only nod, dumbfounded and the older teen leaned in, kissing him deeply momentarily before pushing himself away again. “Good.”

“It...it was never because I didn’t _want_ you.” Carlos caught a glimpse of Jay’s lips turning upwards into a grin. The younger teen then took the initiative himself and pulled on Jay, roughly pushing their hips together as he crushed their lips together passionately.

Carlos felt another tug on his arms and, without warning, he was falling on top of Jay as the older teen let himself fall down into the grass. He let out a gasp in surprise, but couldn’t help but laugh as he pulled his arms out from under the other teen and pushed himself up so he could stare down at the thief. He was smiling. They were both smiling.

“Jerk.” Carlos said through another laugh as he moved his hand to nudge Jay’s shoulder.

The thief only smirked and shrugged, but after a moment his expression became more serious again and he moved his one hand off the younger teen’s arm and placed it against his cheek. “This is weird. I mean, not _this_ , but...man, I thought that cake had wrecked me.”

Carlos raised an eyebrow and frowned in confusion, but pressed his cheek against Jay’s hand instinctively. “What do you mean?”

“I thought,” The other teen’s brow furrowed as his eyes clouded in contemplation, “I thought I wouldn’t be able to feel like this with you again after I ate the dumb thing. I mean, dude, I thought getting tackled hurt, but that’s nothing compared to having feelings just disappear and then remembering what they felt like.”

 Carlos bit his lip before lowering himself down again so that he was lying completely on top of Jay. “I didn’t know it was going to do that to you. I thought it would just be like they never happened.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter because I have you again now, right?”

The younger teen began to frown and ran his fingers through Jay’s hair, feeling the grass underneath it, as he remembered seeing the other teen in the halls with Audrey. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be with some princess?”

Jay scrunched up his nose and shook his head. “No, no way. Not after knowing what loving you felt like. I want that back again.”

Carlos began to feel himself blush and he kissed Jay again. He felt the older teen hum contently into the kiss as his arms went down around the smaller boy’s waist, holding him close.

They weren’t going to be perfect together. Carlos knew that. It was going to take a lot of time for them to work through their pasts together so that they could trust each other completely. They would have to so that something like this didn’t happen again; so that they could talk to each other instead of just reacting.

But knowing that Jay still was willing to try was all Carlos needed to hear. Even if it was because the love potion had shown the other teen what love was like, all that mattered now was that the thief’s feelings were going to be genuinely his.

They could work on building up their relationship together, here at Auradon – a place that was known for giving so many their happy endings that lead to even happier beginnings. And they’d be safe here. Together. Through whatever ever after came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this was such an amazing experience for me! I'm completely in love with this ship and this fandom. Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me soon. I have a few more ideas for one-offs (including ones for this series) as well as a longer piece, so stay tuned!


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